Burning Gracidea
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: Hugh knows exactly what he wants to do. Rosa couldn't be more unsure. And yet they're both doing the same thing, walking along the same paths. But maybe Hugh's taking that for granted, that Rosa will always be there. And maybe Rosa's taking it for granted too.


**A/N:** This story is set in the game universe, with some…changes. You'll see what as the story progresses. The POV alternates every second chapter (unless there's something that needs one character's POV over the other) between Rosa and Hugh, starting this chapter off with Rosa.

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**.**

**Burning Gracidea  
**_the story of two children who start together but turn away  
towards two very different paths_

**.**

**Chapter 1  
Rosa: Trainer Steps**

'_Do_ you want a Pokemon?'

She asked me that. My mum. About ten minutes before I was supposed to meet her friend's assistant – Bianca something or other I think? – to pick one out. A bit late, I thought. Whether I wanted one or not was irrelevant now, because I couldn't really say no.

Unless I felt really strongly about the whole issue, which I didn't. But I certainly didn't _love_ Pokemon like my mother did. And I certainly didn't want to drag her dream around with me.

Strictly speaking, I didn't even want to leave home, but life wasn't so simple nowadays. You couldn't _not_ have a Pokemon once you turned twelve. Not if you lived under the jurisdiction of the Aspertia Council anyway. Sometimes, if your prospects of passing the compulsory level exams within a few months of your birthday were slim, they'd waiver the age requirement, but otherwise not. Most of the time you'd do the test before you turned twelve anyway.

It was some political reason: something to do with Team Plasma, Hugh always said. Mum wasn't ever quite so specific. In fact, she was downright evasive whenever anyone mentioned the group. But that wasn't anything unusual; most people were like that. Afraid of dredging up ghosts of the past or something of that sort. It bothered Hugh, full of energy and thirsty for vengeance, but it bothered me only so much as the lack of information left holes in understanding. I preferred knowing things: knowing where the world was going, what I was getting in to. But when you were a twelve year old kid without even a Pokemon, the best you got was "you're not old enough to know".

Having a Pokemon gave you a little bit more power, a little bit more knowledge, but it also meant leaving the safety and familiarity of home behind. It meant going out into the unknown, batting towards a path that'd leave me battered and bruised and toss out a completely new Rosa by the end of. I didn't want to change. I didn't want to be tough and uncivilised like Iris, the current champion, or Alder, two champions ago. I didn't want to vanish from society and only be known as a whispering legend like Hilbert – and why had he vanished after saving Unova, as the legends claimed he did? There was something deeper in there; why would an innocent man hide themselves

Team Plasma hadn't disappeared from the face of the planet; whispers of them still existed, still seeped through the tight information net that Aspertia Council had woven over the cities and towns it governed: Aspertia City, where we lived, Floccesy Town, and a few smaller settlements, the Floccesy Ranch being the largest and most memorable of them. It wasn't a _bad_ council, but they had a lot of restrictions. Like the law of us having to own a Pokemon once we turned twelve and passed the compulsory level exams – and typically, if you failed on your first try, you could squeeze in another attempt before your birthday. That's _if_ you failed; it is a pretty easy test.

The point is, it doesn't matter whether I want a Pokemon or not, because I'm going to get one. And I say that, sighing the words and then sighing again at the look on my mother's face. She can't help it though; I can't help it either. The question is meaningless, and we both know it, but she just wants to hear it doesn't matter.

I don't know whether it matters or not. If I loved Pokemon with all my heart and wanted to be the greatest Pokemon Master in the world, it wouldn't matter at all. But I don't – except I don't _hate_ Pokemon with a passion either. I don't really know how I feel about them…and I guess the best way to know _is_ to actually have a Pokemon of my own and experience life as a trainer.

Being a trainer doesn't mean becoming a Pokemon Master after all. And it's not like I _do_ know what I want to do with my life. If I want to go to one of the colleges, I'll have to wait until I'm fifteen. Same if I want an apprenticeship at any of the labs. Or to go to Nursing school, or the Defence Corps. The years of twelve to fifteen was mostly for testing the waters and deciding where the rest of your life would be spent. And if you discovered you really hated Pokemon, there were a few fields you could go into with minimal contact with them.

'Have you decided what Pokemon you want?' Mum asked. She wanted a show of enthusiasm; she wanted to know I'd be happy going out. She couldn't get that from asking if I _wanted_ to go, but maybe there were smaller things.

'Snivy,' I replied, without hesitation and with a hint of pride in my voice. Of the three starter type Pokemon available to starting trainers in Unova, Snivy was the fastest and most intelligent of the three. It also had the strongest defence, and while its attack stats were low and its move pool not containing anything particularly devastating, strategy, speed and attack-boosting moves could cover that difference. It was also one of the more unpopular starters, due to its lack of versatility, but that provided an intellectual challenge, and, if I could master Snivy, I'd have more than just the raw power any of the other two starters would give.

'Snivy.' Mum sounded impressed as well, and happy. She liked an intellectual challenge as much as I did; it was why she'd come to Aspertia City and established her little research base there. She studied the migration of flying Pokemon nowadays, and Aspertia was a popular stopping place for the Pidove and Ducklett. Some of the water types, like Basculin, stopped by in the calm waters as well – though I don't really see what the challenge is about studying barely changing patterns. She hasn't discovered much that's noteworthy over the three years we've lived here. 'That's a tall order, but you're looking confident.' She stuck her thumbs up, looking suddenly childish. 'You go get them girl.'

'Sure Mum.' I almost sighed again, but it looked like she'd found that little happy place she was looking for, so I let it be. After all, it wasn't her fault I couldn't be entirely enthusiastic about getting my first Pokemon.

'Don't worry,' she continued, whipping around and packing some more Pokemon snacks into my already full handbag. I'd packed everything I needed already, but she insisted on adding more snacks, but the human and the Pokemon kind. I'm a little surprised she didn't add any more medicines, but maybe she noticed I had plenty - enough to last me a couple of months at least, even if we got into more than the anticipated amount of scrapes. 'You'll fall right in love with a Pokemon when you see them, and you'll know that one's the right one for you. I wanted Snivy too, starting out – and I just took one little peak at the Tepig and it stole my heart.' She chuckled to herself, relieving the memories of her Pokemon Trainer past, and I smiled as her enthusiasm infected me. Maybe she was right. Maybe it was just my reluctance to leave home and my unsureness speaking. Maybe I would fall in love with a Pokemon and all my thoughts of strategy and the future would be meaningless.

She handed me the bag and I slipped it over my shoulder, letting the weight settle comfortably near my hip. The visor went on next: a pale pink, matching the handbag and the perfect thing to keep Aspertia City's famous sunlight out of my eyes. 'How do I look?' I asked, checking myself over. Shoes were by the door. Bag was on. Visor was on. I didn't have any obvious pockets in my clothing – those were just asking for trouble – but I did have a few notes in the pocket of my sleeveless shirt in case I lost my bag. I had a sweatshirt over that, the sort I could pull off if it got too hot, but would keep me warm when night came. I'd packed a pair of sweatpants and a jacket for the colder months, but summer really was too hot to be wearing stuff like that. I had tights and my frilly yellow shorts on instead, the tights because I was less likely to get scratched and bitten by little things like mosquitoes, and the shorts because I had to wear _something_ over the tights, so why not indulge myself a little? I was a girl after all; I liked to dress up too. The sleeveless shirt I wore inside was nice too: a rosy pink with black outlines, but the sweatshirt wasn't really a fashion statement. Its close, I guess: it has a pink Poke-ball on its chest which matches nicely with my bag and visor, but sweatshirts as a whole don't really take the fashion industry by storm.

I might like clothes like the typical girl, but I'm practical enough not to let that get in the way. I'll freeze or boil without the sweatshirt, and I'll get more scratches then necessary from the bushes. And it's not a big deal if I don't dress up for my Pokemon. It's not like I dress up when I'm just hanging out at home.

Except I was a little dressed up then, I guess, with the matching pink and those yellow frilly shorts Mum always thought of as cute. And she said it again: 'you look adorable dear. Just like my little princess.'

But I walked out that door in sneakers and not in glass slippers and a chariot.

**.**

Professor Juniper's assistant is on the platform that overlooks the shore. It's not the best view of the city though, and she was lost. No doubt about it. After all, Mum said she'd be waiting for me on Route 19 – but then again, she'd also mentioned the assistant had a habit of wandering off on her own. She wasn't the most attentive.

It made me wonder how she'd become an assistant in the first place as that sounded pretty important, but I supposed her flaky exterior was hiding something else. Seeing her for the first time, I didn't think so though. She was staring dreaming out at the ocean, small purse with three minimised Poke balls obvious to anyone on the platform. Like me, who'd managed to spot the green hat I was looking for. Like a man with a scarf around his neck, pacing instead of admiring the view and looking decidedly suspicious. He was getting a few odd looks as well – the place was a popular dating spot, so young couples weren't too thrilled by the sight of a decided party pooper, but that didn't seem to bother the guy in the least. He'd shoot a few glares here and there, and then continue pacing. By the time I got up the stairs, the entire cycle had been repeated at least three times.

'Miss Bianca?' I asked, fairly certain, with the tell-tale hat and rimmed glasses and orange skirt and all (I'd never seen anyone wear an _orange_ skirt around here), but it didn't hurt to make sure.

She started, as if she hadn't seen me come up. 'Yep.' She grinned, looking me over. 'You look like a pretty tough girl; you ready for your first Pokemon?'

Well, it didn't matter, did it? I'd be getting it anyway.

'Anyway – ah, where did it go?' Bianca hadn't even waited for an answer, she'd started shuffling in her purse, almost dropping one of the Poke balls as she pulled out a pink device. 'Aha.'

When she handed it to me, I realised it was a new generation Pokedex. The ones that came information about different areas, like population and stuff, plus differences in genders within the same species. The oldest Pokedex known to be in existence only recorded a Pokemon's general appearance, level and known attacks at the time.

Bianca ran through its basic functions, things I already knew since Professor Juniper had visited all the schools under the Aspertia Council when the new Pokedex had first come out. She'd showed us the "cool new features" via projector, so Bianca's little refresher was just that, a refresher.

Though she was talking a good deal more than Professor Juniper had, even if there wasn't anything new.

'And that's it.' Bianca's hand shuffled blindly in her bag some more. 'And one, two, and – oh.' The third Poke ball rolled out of the lip and on to the ground. Bianca reached for it, but so did the scarfed man from earlier and he got it first. I frowned slightly, sure he was going to make some sort of scene. His face was set, his eyes gleaming with the sense of closing in on his prey.

Bianca just smiled at him. 'Thank you,' she said with a bow. 'I'm just so clumsy.' She held out her hand expectedly.

He struck faster than I could see, knocking the other balls from her hand as well. 'Hey!' He'd caught them before she got the exclamation out.

'Giving such valuable Pokemon to little shrimps that don't know how to care for them,' he sneered. Which wasn't much of an insult, considering he couldn't know whether I was capable or not. Same way _I_ didn't know whether I was capable or not. As for age…Hugh had been raising his Tynamo and Trapinch for years now, so it really was a moot point. There wasn't really a minimum age for raising Pokemon, so long as the parent or guardian approved it and the child wasn't irresponsible in raising the Pokemon. 'They're worth much more than that.'

The starter Pokemon of Unova. Like all regions, they couldn't be found in the wild, instead raised on special breeding grounds connected directly to the country's main lab. In this case, it was Professor Juniper's lab, and the Pokemon were Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott. They were the Pokemon that all kids starting out without a first Pokemon from elsewhere received. The only other way to get one was if a couple of the fully evolved forms of the starters lay an egg, like Hugh's grandparents' Emboars. That was how Hugh got his Tepig.

So, to a thief, the starter Pokemon would be worth good money, I supposed. Except Aspertia was somewhat out of the way; Nuvema town, where Professor Juniper's lab is, was a two day trip by ferry directly west. But maybe I was giving him too much credit and he wasn't a thief at all, just annoyed.

But Bianca had finally lost her smile and it didn't really matter which he was. 'Give those back,' she seethed. 'Professor Juniper entrusted those Pokemon to me so the new trainer could choose her lifelong companion! You know how important that is?'

I was expecting a rant to follow, so I was little surprised when she tossed a Pokemon instead. She hadn't had to shuffle in her purse for it; if I wasn't mistaken, it hadn't been in her purse to begin with, but a more easily accessible pocket. In other words, she'd been more careful than I'd expected from first glance.

'Come on out, Emboar!' she shouted, as the massive fire pig emerged from its Poke ball and stamped a foot. A few bystanders screamed and backed away; others inched closer in interest. Bianca flanked her Pokemon, looking less friendly and more frightening as she glared at the man in his scarf.

He sweated a little, muttered something either akin to an apology or about devils and tossed the Poke balls down. 'Take these things,' he snapped. 'Like we need more stupid trainers in the world.'

Emboar snorted, releasing a puff of steam, and the man left. He managed not to flee; I'm not sure I would have cared to, with a large pig looking like he wanted to barbecue me.

'Pooh,' Bianca pouted, making a face at the man's retreating back. 'After all that, he could have at least battled me. Oh well.' She returned her Emboar with a word of thanks. 'That was a little more dramatic than I intended. Now then…one, two…now, where did that third one go?' She found it behind her foot, and gathered them all up. 'Here they are; the Unova region starter Pokemon.'

She was back to her smiley self, and I couldn't help but feel relieved. It wasn't as though I'd been frightened by her sudden change of attitude, but it had been discerning all the same. Was that how it was for anyone getting into a Pokemon battle? Or just releasing their Pokemon in preparation for a battle?

But Bianca was talking again, and I let go of that train of thought. It would be just another thing I'd discover on my journey, if it came to that.

'This first one is Tepig, the fire type.' She tapped the ball on its head, showing a piglet, complete with its curly tail and black nose. It yawned, opening one lazy eye to stare at me before closing it again. But Bianca's Emboar was still fresh in my mind, and I wasn't blind to the raw power that could be unleashed from that little Pokemon. And I didn't want to hide in the shadow of such blatant raw power.

'Next up is Oshawott, the water type.' She released the ball, showing an otter clutching it shell protectively. It hid its eyes behind it when it noticed me staring, peeking every now and then before disappearing again, like a shy child.

'And last but not least is Snivy, the grass type – whoops.' The ball tumbled out of her hands and hit the ground, opening and releasing the grass type starter as the empty ball rolled into my right sneaker. This one yawned as well, but a sharp flick of its tail had it alert and regarding me.

I considered; it was my last chance to change my mind, if I wanted to. If Snivy looked like it had no intention at all of obeying me – but it was simply regarding me, not dismissing me with a glance like Tepig had done, or hiding like Oshawott. That, I could work with. And Snivy's eyes had a keen look in them as well.

I crouched down beside it. 'How about it?' I asked. 'Want to give together a try?'

Snivy stared at my outstretched hand, before extending a vine to shake it. It was – since we'd be spending more time together, I should check its gender soon – still eyeing me though. _Trial period_, it seemed to be saying. I agreed. This entire journey was a trial period after all, made up of smaller trial periods. If Snivy did not like me, it was perfectly free to leave. So long as it understood I had the same choice available to me. It seemed to; there was a hardness in its eyes that were missing from the other two.

And it knew Vine Whip, which meant it was at a slightly higher level than the usual starters. I let strategies try to knit themselves into some sense in my head as I picked up Snivy's Poke ball. Bianca was raising an eyebrow at me when I straightened up, though she was still smiling. 'That was fast,' she commented. 'Though I should warn you, that Snivy's been abandoned once before. Or she left her trainer; we're not really sure.'

I nodded; that explained the look. My guess was it was the latter; she – so it was a female – didn't seem to carry the scars of abandonment one would expect. Not that I'd ever met an abandoned Pokemon before. But we knew the signs; it was one of the things taught to us, as soon as we finished up on basic health. The Pokemon Centres were big in trying to help abused and abandoned Pokemon, so it needed the citizens to be able to recognise them. 'That's fine,' I said. 'I want to give this Snivy a try. I'll send her back if there's any problems; that's fine, right?'

Bianca blinked at me. 'Sure, that's fine,' she said, sounding a little mystified. 'She might be a little difficult for an inexperienced trainer – Snivy as a species generally are – but if you want to try her, go right ahead.' She nodded at the ball I held. 'Let's see, you've got your Poke ball, your Pokedex – oh, do you have an Xtransceiver?'

I did, in one of the smaller compartments of my bag so it didn't get buried in clothes, medicines or food. She took it, adding a few numbers and, by the sounds of the beeping, making a few mistypes, before handing it back. 'I've given you my number,' she said, gesturing with the two Poke balls she still held, before blinking at them and returning Tepig and Oshawott. 'And Professor Juniper's. Call her if you're having any trouble with Snivy or your Pokedex, or if you want to check up on or switch Pokemon once you pass the six on hand rule.'

Six on hand: it's one of the old Pokemon league rules that still reigned. Registered trainers were only allowed to carry six Pokemon on their person; all others had to be left somewhere for safe-keeping. Some had the capacity at home; others paid a breeder. Most common for young trainers was to store their Pokemon with the Professor that gave them their starter and Pokedex, and it assisted the professors by providing more specimens for their research as well.

'And you can call me if you need any advice about battling, or training, or just want some girl-to-girl chat,' Bianca continued, cramming the Poke balls back into her purse. 'And – ' She was cut off by the sound of a whistle from the harbour below. 'Oh no, that's my boat.' She quickly zipped up her purse. 'Sorry – Rosa, was it? I've got to dash otherwise I'll never make it back in time to help Professor Juniper with her new catch. Call me and we'll catch up.'

She was rushing down the stairs before I had the chance to reply, and Snivy was looking equally mystified. It looked like that would be something we'd both have to work on in the future…if we had a future together.


End file.
